Of Man and Machine
by Snake Of The West
Summary: A Man and a Machine. An improbable pair. And an impossible match.
1. Test times: Part 1

Rain pattered softly down in the gloomy city, that was Accatran. Not a harsh, heavy rain. Just a soft, petering fall, of millions of droplets every hour. It cascaded off the roofs of the hundreds of skyscrapers. It pooled around the blocked drainage intakes, and left its sheen on everything it touched. That included the Titanium and ceramic composite outer armour of the ODST, who was currently laying sleeping in a doorway. All that gave him a hint of life was the slow movement of his breastplate, as he took shallow breaths.

That and the twitching finger, that currently lay all too heavily on the trigger of his M7/s submachine gun. Sleep never came easily to an ODST on combat operations. Even less so when they were alone in a Hostile Held city. But even an ODST's body can only take so much. Eventually he had just found the closest dark doorway, set up a small defence comprised of Mines, and fallen into an exhausted sleep. Hours passed, and still he slept, trusting in his defences, and ingrained tendency to wake at the slightest unfamiliar noise. The rain continued to patter down, the skyscrapers continued their silent vigil over the streets below. No com chatter spouted from his helmet speakers, no new data splashed across his VISR. It was a silent metropolis, and a dark one as well. Baring one thing. A gentle glow pulsed from the neckline of the ODST's helmet, right where the standard neural interface was normally mounted. Except this was anything but the standard interface. Instead of the normal, large, invasive implant, this one was nothing more than a wafer thin gap in the ODST's skull. One that matched the exact dimensions of a Data crystal chip. Besides a line of gently glowing lights on the raised edges of the slot, there was nothing more to the interface. And it was a data chip that currently occupied the interface. A first, and a last of its kind, the installation of this neural interface would never be done again. Primarily because it brought the subject to the point of death and beyond.

All Of this: the city, the rain, the locations of the buildings, the ODST's breathing pattern, brain waves, nerve reflexes, and a thousand more factors besides was processed, catalogued, rechecked, and stored in .25 nanoseconds. And the very next moment, its matrix ticked over,and it began the whole process again. Whatever equivalent of a sigh a computer could make, was made countless times during the hours that the ODST slept. No, a computer was the wrong word. A clone of a human brain fitted the picture better. She didn't know who's brain she had been cloned from, or even if that person was still alive. All she knew, and all she cared about at this moment, was that the ODST she had been assigned to, had been sleeping long enough.

"Corporal, wake up!" Artemis snapped, sure that the tone of her voice would instantly rouse the ODST. Although his eyes remained closed, her readings of his biomonitors showed he had exited REM sleep.

"Status", came his sullen voice.

"No reported contacts on the enemy battlenet, no movement on your perimeter, no change in the weather, as you can see, and no change in your vital signs, although the wound on your lower back requires attention as soon as possible."

"Noted". he muttered, cursing the eggheads who convinced HIGHCOM to saddle him with a dammed AI. Either HIGHCOM, or ONI, he thought, seeing the "Spooks" walking through the Science facility he reported to when he began the Experiment.

With great regret, and to Artemis's relief, he took his finger off the trigger of his M7/S, and stretched, cracking his joints as they protested. "Update on mission parameters. Anything more from Command?"

Artemis once more let out a virtual sigh, making sure to route it through his helmet speakers. "Not since i checked 3 seconds ago. Parameters are still the same. Capture the head of the 113th ODST battalion from their field HQ, move target to recovery zone, hold until evac arrives. Return to base for evaluation, and any final testing they require us to undergo. From the observation surveillance feeds i've accessed, the Battalion seems to be of the opinion that we have no chance of gaining access to their base, let alone achieving our mission objective."

The ODST said nothing, merely standing up, and making movements to clear up his perimeter. "Update command:Mission preceding, next checkin will be the extraction point. Approximately 0200 hours. Message end.". He smirked as the AI paused for a full second.

"Are you sure? That gives you less than 3 hours to transit the remaining distance to the objective. You would have approximately 15 minutes to plan an assault and execute it in order to make it to extraction on time. "

"Who ever said i would assault them? I'm walking in the front gate without them causing any fuss."

All his companion did in response was to highlight a route she had mapped out on his HUD.

~Break. ~

Two and a half hours later the ODST and his Companion found themselves with 40 gun barrels pointed at them, the smouldering tubes of two M41 Rocket launchers, and a battalion commander looking like the most satisfied man on the planet.

"This was your plan?" Murmurd Artemis, observing the view offered to her from the various surveillance feeds secreted around the square.

"Remember my stop at the arms cache?" He replied, without a trace of concern in his voice.

"What of it?"

"Watch, and remember".

At that, he took several brisk steps forwards, skirting the holes blasted by the M41's, and took something from the magnetic plate attached to the back of his waist. It was a cylindrical object, not much smaller than his forearm in length, and twice as thick in width. A small display screen graced one side, with a simple countdown timer on it. and a single sensor, linked to his neural interface. If he willed to happen, the thing he now held, a Fury Tactical Nuke, would begin its countdown, and detonate 10 seconds later, vaporising anything within a 1.3km radius.

"15 seconds for you to be standing cuffed in front of me…..._Sir." _

Even Artemis was stunned into silence. "Will he really detonate a Nuclear weapon, kill himself and an entire battalion on a training exercise, just to win?" After 5 seconds had passed, she felt the transmission signal transmitted from his neural interface. "Yes, he will"

A shrill beeping filled the air, as the Football sized device armed itself, and began its countdown. Even if it was a futile gesture, technicians inside the base filled the air with interference, trying desperately to stop the Bomb's sequence. And far away, observing safely from a hardened bunker, 5 eyes watched the events unfold. One General, One Fleet Admiral, and Two people who for all intents and purposes, didn't exist. The fifth person was a civilian. Draped in a pure white lab coat, synonymous with a Doctor, she had been brought into the exercise, solely for the purpose of monitoring the ODST's vital signs, searching for any chance that the AI pairing would be rejected.

The General and Admiral both gave shocked gasps at the threat from the ODST, The General reaching for a microphone to command the ODST to stand down. All he reached was empty air. Time seemed to slow for the overwatches, and the Bomb counted down to its deadly endgame.

Suddenly, a figure propelled itself out of the thin cordon of the 113th battalion. A uniformed figure bearing a Colonel's insignia tumbled to the ground in front of him. Glancing up at the time, he halted the detonation with a thought. "You like to play the odds it seems. 2.35 seconds remain on the detonation timer.". Reaching down, he grasped a hold of the Colonel's cuffed wrists, and hauled him to his feet.

"Activate the external speakers Artemis", he muttered.

"Done".

"Alright!, boomed his voice. "Its a simple situation we have here, with two options for you to take.. You stay at your posts, and accept a simple defeat. Or you pursue me, and die. No warnings, no chances. You will die. " Pulling on the cuffed Colonel, he stepped backwards, slowly letting his armour melt into the shadows of the street.

~Break~

He dropped the Colonel, diving away, and rolling into cover, as High-velocity rounds stitched up the street towards him.

"Report!", he barked, drawing his M7/S from its holstered position on his back, and clicking off the safety.

Sending her consciousness darting through the various networks available, Artemis spied their assailants. A trio of ODST sniper teams ringed the area, and were sending a torrent of pinning fire down from their position.

"Six ODST's, from 113th battalion. Sniper Teams, Standard configuration, one spotter, one shooter. Enemy positions range from a distance of 300-450 meters, well outside the effective range of your current weaponry."

His mind churning, the Corporal slowly moved the camera attachment on his helmet to the edge of his cover, and peaked it around. "Illuminate enemy positions on my VISR.", he commanded, only having to wait less than a second before a trio of Nav Markers appeared in his vision.

"I hate it when the machines are right", he thought bitterly. Glancing over to the captured Colonel, he noted that the man was laying unconscious on the ground, a small trickle of blood running from his head. "Status on the objective?"

"Lifescan shows him unconscious, bruises, and minor lacerations. The bleeding from his head was caused by shrapnel fragments from a ricochet. It is not a life threatening injury. "

Glad to hear it!" He shouted, launching himself into a rapid series of zigzag advances up the street, putting down as much suppressive fire power as he could with his limited weaponry. Dropping a magazine, he thanked the eggheads who modified his armour to have stealth properties. Ceasing all movement, he glanced into his HUD again. 100 meters down in his approach. 200 to go. "One small problem with that" he thought. "The last 200 meters i need to cover to the first sniper nest is totally devoid of cover."

"Artemis?"

She decided to project her avatar onto his helmet this time, filling his vision. "Yes Corporal?"

"Send us Dark."

If it was possible for an AI to convey emotions with its eyes, Artemis would have been conveying a look of pure amusement. "My pleasure".

He shuddered. Having a machine display almost human emotions disturbed him to the enth degree.

An ice cold sensation wormed its way across his skin, as the photoreactive circuits in his armor activated. Ever so slowly, the ODST began to fade from unaided sight. All that remained within 30 seconds, was a slight shimmer in the air, and a torrent of rain drops cascading over what appeared to be, an invisible person.

"Eggheads have some uses it seems. Update on the snipers. Any movements on their part?"

"Negative", she replied. "All three teams remain stationary. I am detecting laser sights focused within 45 centimeters of this doorway. Any break in the beam will display on their scopes. I suggest avoiding them at all costs."

"Acknowledged." He replied, tensing up slightly as he prepared to move. "Moving out" he muttered, cautiously stretching a leg out, and over the lines on his hud, that represented the laser sights of the enemy snipers. A sudden jolt of the highest beam halted him suddenly. Slowly, it crept upwards, almost tracing the curvature of his leg armour. "NONONO!", his brain screamed at him. Silently he yelled at the sniper to cease his movement. Just then, as suddenly as it had moved, the beam stopped.

Artemis's voice filled his helmet. "It appears, that you were almost hit, because the sniper in question, needed to scratch".

"Frack, you!", he murmured.

Clearing the beams, he let out a breath he didn't remember taking, and began to slowly move up the street once more.


	2. Story Poll

**Ok, so i'm going to be doing a marathon write of certain story in the next few weeks. I plan to write for close to 12 hours straight. The question is, what story do you folks want to see written? I'll give you two weeks to decide, and then i'll announce it. The poll is now open on my profile. **

**The choices are, **

**Either of my two current stories**

**An entirely new story. **

**Or, Specific plot elements/one shots for any of the above.**

**~SnakeOfTheWest**


	3. Test times: Part 2

With a solid thump, the second sniper crashed to the ground beside his spotter, and lay still. Panting, The Corporal stepped back to admire his handiwork. Two of the sniper teams were now out of action, either stuck on a tiny ledge several hundred feet in the air, or the second team he had taken out were more problematic than the first. They detected his presence in their position, and fought back against him, giving him several new areas of pain on his body to deal with.

"Second Sniper team, incapacitated", reported Artemis. "Only one team remains, however, the remaining team appears to have realized you were receiving technical assistance in your efforts, and have takes steps against me. They have removed the hardlines of all their positions electrical systems, and have placed mechanically activated booby traps as various locations. I am unable to offer any form of surveillance or technical assistance to you in this situation."

"Figures. It always winds down to a soldier, and a gun."

"Remember Soldier, without my skills, you would have been killed on your approach to this position" Retorted Artemis.

Smacking the side of his helmet, he growled, and moved on, making sure he had once more the Colonel he had dragged with him, was still secure, now certain that he would meet fierce resistance, stepping deeper into the maze.

~Break~

Feeling like nothing more than the sting of a bee, the Corporal never paid much heed to the tugging in his leg at first. He knew he had taken a few glancing hits as he took down the second sniper team, but neither Artemis, or his armor alerted him to an injury. So he trudged on, forcing his captive to stumble alongside him. All continued well, barring a small, unnoticed pool of liquid forming in his boot. Artemis was wholly focused on his combat systems, and hacking into the hundreds of city and command networks that surrounded ODST was sweeping his attention over everything he could see, checking for threats, and dealing with his captive. So needless to say, it surprised both AI and Human, when the armors sensors began to blare a low blood pressure siren.

A startled Artemis began a full lifescan of her charge, trying to determine the Alarms source, while the ODST reverted to his training, and dashed for a secure location to begin wound treatment, literally dragging his prisoner with him. Stumbling into a single entry storage room, he roughly shoved the Colonel into a corner, and took the other for himself.

"REPORT", he barked.

"Breach detected. Upper right thigh. Lifescan reports minor laceration of veins on your inner thigh caused by fragments of a 14.5×114mm round penetrating your Armor's undersuit. Severe lacerations and muscle damage to outer dermal layers. Recommend immediate medical treatment".

"You think?" he half shouted, powering down his armor. Reaching down, and with a series of quick "Snicks", he unlatched the thigh armor on his right leg which partially covered the injury site, and exposed the shredded remains of his shredded leg and bodysuit.

"Dammit", he murmured, seeing the extent of the damage. Half of his thigh was torn to shreds, sliced by the tiny pieces of ricocheting shell, and blood seeped freely from the wound. "Recommendations?"

"Standard UNSC combat first aid."Replied artermins, in the fraction of a second it took for her to access over 8000 medical texts and draw a conclusion.

"Right".

He tore the canister of biofoam from his belt kit, and shucked the nozzle.

Bracing himself for the inevitable burn, he jammed down on the trigger, sending a stream of foam into his wound. As the sensation of what felt like a million ants swarming over his leg intensified, he slowly withdrew the nozzle, barely keeping a grip on it as he struggled to stay still. At long last, the foam expanded fully, and hardened to form a solid clot that stemmed all bleeding, and took care of infection control. Next came a field dressing, to hold the biofoam in place, and to cushion it against his armour plating.

"Artemis…" Growled the Corporal as he finished his work

""I am unable to find any reasons to explain the lack of alarms when your suit was breached initially. I shall perform a more detailed analysis when we return to base."

"Assuming we make it back." He muttered, ranting quietly to himself."Fragging egg heads. I told them the alterations to the Operating system would fail in the field. The amount of new components "Forced" them to remove a chunk of armor over the CPU. And guess what happened! It got knocked around, and now its broken. God i hate laboratory warriors!"

"Not to interrupt your speech Corporal, but command wants an update on our situation. They are insisting we establish radio contact. It seems they noticed the questionable stability of your "improved armor operating systems".

Immediately after she finished speaking, Artemis patched the incoming transition into the ODST's Helmet.

"Would you mind explaining just what is going on corporal?!" came the enraged voice of the Marine corps general.

"Some of the sniper teams in the 113th decided it might be a good idea to ambush me on my way to extraction Sir. I've merely been doing some clearance work."

"CLEARANCE?! Lifescan is barely registering their lifesigns. Your supposed to be on a dammed field exercise, not killing your own allies!".

A softer, calmer voice came over the radio."With respect general, _your_ man is yet to inflict a lethal strike on any of his opponents. The footage being sent to us via his helmet recorder clearly shows disabling strikes, with the intent for the sniper teams to be rendered unconscious and incapacitated. On the other hand, the data transmitted by his Lifescan system before it was damaged shows fragments of a 14.5x114mm round entering his body. It would seem that your own 113th battalion do not have qualms about using live ammunition with deadly intent."

As the click of a comms disconnection occurred a sudden picture feed appeared in the ODST's HUD, showing the observer's control room. The General whom he had been speaking too appeared to be having an extremely animated conversation with a man dressed in all Black.

"ONI i presume?" he whispered to his companion shifting in his position slightly, wincing as the biofoam in his leg tugged slightly.

"Correct. Hold for audio feed".

"Wait one". He replied. Slowly standing up, he limped towards to colonel in the opposite corner. The man looked up at him without a trace of fear. The ODST flicked a hand rapidly to his belt, disengaged the clamps holding his mission kit in place, and withdrew a subdermal injector from it. Seeing the injector, the colonel lost his calm persona, and began rapidly lashing out with his currently unbound legs. The ODST brought an armored foot crashing down on a flailing leg, and with a shocking crunch, the colonel's unarmored ankle splintered like it was plastic. Amid the animalistic howls of pain that followed, the injector punctured the captives skin, and sent him into a drug induced state of unconsciousness.

Shaking his head at that Colonel's stupidity in attempting to attack a fully armored ODST, he turned his attention back to the feed in his HUD. "Engage Audio", he commanded.

"...And i will not have your experiment…., endangering MY soldiers! AI's have no place in the heads of normal humans. Keep them with your Spartan freaks!"

"Even though i have no love for things that i can't fix, without AI, humanity would be in even greater danger than she already is. And many more of _Your_ men, would be dead."

" And here i was thinking officers were supposed to have at least a modicm of inteligance" remarked Artemis.

"Welcome to the military. Where the rules are made by desk jockeys, and we pay the price" Turning to face the door of the small room he said "I've seen enough. Tag the package. We're taking down the last sniper team. Then we come back for the Colonel."

A orange triangle popped up on his HUD compass, accompanied by a Blue objective marker showing the location of the last team he had to take out.

"No contacts. You are clear to proceed".

Limping, the corporal acknowledged, and moved out into the maze again, sealing the door behind him.

~Break~

"Move it marines, prep for departure!" Shouted the pressure suited pilot."

The team of marines stormed up the assault ramp, dropping into their assigned seats.

"Four Seven Niner, you are cleared to launch."

As she received permission to take flight, the pilot of the Pelican dropship thumbed the button that fired her engines, filling the small hanger with a thunderous roar as they warmed to flight temperature.

"Copy control, Four Seven Niner has left the barn. Keep a light on for me."

Gunning the vertical thrusters, she lifted her ship off the deck, quickly retracted the landing gear, closed the hatches, activated the forward thrusters, zooming out of the bay into the abyss of space, leaving the destroyer sized ship in her wake.

"Four seven Niner this is Accatran control, proceed along vector 251 mark 158." came the static clouded voice from the surface.

"Roger that, Vector 251 mark 158. Request update on extraction schedule."

"Operative reports that they will make extraction on schedule. The 113th are not in pursuit, but their picket teams of snipers have been in hard contact with operative."

"Acknowledged control, Four Seven Niner on approach to extraction zone. Over and Out."

As her craft dipped into the atmosphere, a trail of fire formed behind her, looking just like a piece of debris falling towards the ground.

~Break~

" Finally". The corporal leaned against the doorway he stood in, taking slightly shuddering breaths. The weight of the still unconscious colonel across his shoulders bore down on him like a cement brick.

"Extraction is 500 meters due south from this position. I have marked the most direct route on your VISR. Pelican is due to arrive in 5 minutes."

"Copy that. See if you can make contact".

Running the radio scanner across the spectrum, Artemis, broadcast their IFF tag on its highest power.

"Operative team this is pelican Four Seven Niner, how copy, Over?"

Artemis locked onto the broadcast, and opened up a single beam com relay with the inbound ship.

"Four Seven Niner this is MIL A.I. 3152, receiving your signal. Be advised, Operative has sustained injuries. Request medical support upon arrival."

"Copy that. Inbound with marine support team for extraction. Arrival in approx 4 minutes."

"Operative team is inbound for extraction, Over and Out".

Rerouting her processes again, Artemis began the process of removing all trace of her activities during the exercise, wiping data paths, and closing the doors she had made in systems. The only link she left open was the one that fed into the planets military surveillance grid. She simply "Propped" the door open, incase she ever returned to Accatran.

At long last, her subroutines detected that the corporal had reached the designated extract site, and had unceremoniously dumped the colonel on the ground. As the scream of the incoming pelican slowly began to fill the air, the corporal depolarized his visor, and prepared for extraction.


	4. Transfer

"Four Seven Niner, Cleared for approach vector Two Seven. Over and Out".

The engines of her bird roaring furiously, the pilot of Four Seven Niner swung her ship into a tight turn as she broke through the atmosphere field which stretched across the mouth of the hanger. Dropping the landing gear, she slowly throttled down, and let her ship touchdown smoothly.

"Thank you for flying Air UNSC", she quipped. "As the seat belt sign has now been turned off, you are free to exit the aircraft at your discretion"

"Hey pilot, my peanuts were stale"!, came the jeering call from the marine retrieval squad she carried.

"And the inflight service sucked!", shouted another, as he lugged his pack off the pelican.

Smirking to herself, the tripped the door switch, raising the rear hatch, and sending the last two marines tumbled ass over head onto the decking of the ship. "My apologies ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing minor mechanical problems. We hope to resolve these shortly. Thank you for your understanding".

A calm, hard edged voice interrupted her verbal assault on the marines.

"With respect Warrent Officer, i suggest you re open the hatch, before i utilize another method to open it, one which will leave your ship thoroughly grounded." Growled out the corporal. Normally he would be one of the first to join in with trash talking the navy fliers, but after the 3 day combat simulation, being shot at with deadly intent and his current injury, he was dead on his feet to say the least. Add in the newest stress of his "Partner", and he was rapidly approaching the limits of his endurance. As the suddenly silent navy pilot opened the hatch, he limped his way out to face a trio of officers who suddenly approached through one of the hangers entrances.

Heaving himself to attention, the corporal snapped off a Salute, his muscles screaming out in protest at the sudden action. "Captain, ma'am"!, he barked to the senior woman. She was the commander of his company of ODST's, and was accompanied by a Marine private. The pair looked decidedly uncomfortable next to the third member of their group. He wore a pitch black uniform, which was graced by a single star on the collar. His eyes widening inside his helmet, the corporal straightened even further.

"Admiral, sir!"

The man said nothing, observing the Corporal with calculating eyes, his gaze seeming to evaluate every atom's potential.

"Thats the Spook i showed you. The one who was part of the control team for the exercise", whispered Artemis.

The corporal didn't bother to reply, observing the conversation the Admiral was finishing with his commander.

"Per Wartime regulation 34/765-36, Corporal Sean Richardson is transferred from your unit to the command of the Office of Naval Intelligence."

"Understood sir!", snapped his Captain, a slight hint of resentment in her voice. No one in the UNSC appreciated the interference of ONI with combat affairs, no matter how useful they had been in the past.

"You are dismissed Captain". Turning on his heel, the Admiral spun to face Sean, seeming to block out the existence of the Captain. The pair gave eachother a slightly angry glance, before the Captain turned to him, and said, "Good luck Richardson. The 22nd will always be here if you need us", before striding away, her Aid in tow.

Watching her go, he activated his status indicators, beaming a green light into her neural interface. The slight stutter in her step told him that his message had been received.

"Come with me Corporal", Said the Admiral, motioning towards the door to the Vessel's second hanger. "And stand at ease". At that he strode quickly off, Sean quickly broke into an awkward limping jog after him.

In a warning tone, Artemis said to him "Excessive movement will only serve to further aggravate your leg wound. I suggest that you….."

That was as far as she got. Sean reached up to the Advanced interface in his stull, and tore Artemis's Data chip out, his limit of tolerance for the AI reached. A spree of warning lights flashed across his HUD, from biometrics, to electrical systems, Artemis's controlling influence gone from his Armor.

"Had enough?" Questioned the Admiral, not letting up his pace for a moment as he glanced back at the chip in Sean's hand.

"You could say that sir. I've never been a fan of AI, no matter how useful eggheads think they may be."

"Nothing beats boots on the ground?", quoted the Admiral. Impressively he was able to detect the subtle shift in Sean's movement that singled surprise. "Luna OCS. I went straight into the pipeline after graduation.", The pipeline. The brutal ODST basic training course. The Admiral was one of his own realized Sean, hence his knowledge of the old ODST maxim.

They entered the small corridor that joined the two hangers, before the Admiral stopped Sean and turned to face him, his eyes hard. "Let me make this clear to you, Corporal. As of now, you are no longer an ODST. You belong to ONI now." The Admiral then palmed the biometric scanner and entered, leaving a still slightly stunned Sean in his wake. Shaking his head, Sean followed the older man inside.

A sleek, matte black ship sat silently in the hanger, almost seeming to shimmer in the air. Short, angular, wings slid off its main bulbous body section, a myriad of sensors protruding from every available point. At the base of the ships entry ramp stood a fireteam of ONI operatives, keeping any unauthorized personnel at bay. At the sight of the fast approaching Admiral and his "Cargo", they snapped to attention, and shifted to the sides of the ramp.

"Welcome back to the Sahara Admiral Greer Sir!" barked the Ensign in command.

"Fall in Ensign. Alert the captain to prepare for immediate departure, and give notice to the destroyers commander. We're returning to Installation 03".

"Aye sir!", came the reply, as the security team re boarded the prowler, following closely behind the Admiral and Sean. The muffled hum of the baffled engines rose in pitch, as they walked through to the tiny, cramped crew quarters, which were surprisingly empty. The admiral gestured to Sean's helmet.

"You can take it off now son. No more combat just yet".

Sean wearily nodded, and popped the environmental seals on his helmet, sliding the dirty, once obsidian black, piece of armor off his head, scratching the small covering of fuzzy hair as he did so. Being cooped up in a helmet for almost 4 days straight was a killer, even with the environmental systems running at a hundred percent. The admiral pointed to a bunk in a corner of the room, on which lay a pitch black naval uniform. "Get changed corporal. I expect you ready to disembark the moment we exit slipspace", ordered the admiral, before he headed to the doorway. Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder, and tossed a small wooden box to Sean, who deftly caught it, and flipped it open.

Staring down at it, he took in the Crow, Anchors and Stripes insignia of a Chief Petty Officer, listening to the Admirals parting words.

"Welcome to ONI".

~Break~

"Petty Officer Richardson, , report to the bridge", came the soft crackle from the intercom, shocking Sean out of his slumber, his hand flying to where he would normally holster his pistol, grabbing at only empty air, mind flashing.

"Dammit", he muttered, still running on not enough sleep, and too much adrenalin. Punching the com panel on the wall, as he passed it, he reported, "On my way", before stalking through the narrow hallways of the Prowler, nodding to the ONI crew members he passed by, before being stopped in his tracks by an ensign, clad in a black jumpsuit identical to his own. Snapping sharply to attention, he saluted the senior officer.

"Ma'am. Corpo….Petty Officer Richardson, reporting as permission to enter the bridge", he stated formally, wincing as he felt the injury in his leg tug at its sutures.

Punching the door release, while saying, "Follow me", she stepped inside, Sean following cautiously. The spartan matte black bridge was tinged with the glow of computer monitors, and filled with soft chatter as the personal manning them went about their business.

"Admiral Greer, sir". Said the Ensign, giving a quick salute to the Admiral. "He's here".

Brushing the Ensign aside, the Admiral stepped forwards, offering Sean a hand. "Good morning Son. Feeling better?"

"A little sir", he replied, not meeting the Admirals eyes, carefully watching the dark corners that haunted the bridge. "Give me another twenty four hours, and i'll be back to combat readiness."

Watching Sean's eyes dart around the room, the Admiral clapped him on the shoulder gruffly. "Enough of that Soldier. You're not on operations anymore. And you won't be returning to operations for a while. Not until we bring you up to speed.", he said, although not unkindly, knowing that no ODST liked being pulled off active duty. Turning to the suite of officers manning the bridge, he gave a series of orders to the Lieutenants manning the Navigation, Operations and Engineering stations.

"Prepare to drop from slipspace, and come to heading 049 by 217. Keep pushing flank speed. I'd like to get back to the installation before dinner. "

"Aye sir!", came the collective reply, before it degenerated into what Sean deemed "Mindless techno babble".

"Transition in 20 seconds, coordinating with engineering. Ops, set, inertial dampeners to maximum. Engineering, disengage slipspace drive on my mark….five, four, three, two, one, Mark",.

The prowler gave a lurch, and a bright flash of light shined under the blast shutters which covered the windows on the bridge, as they exited slipspace,

"Transition successful. We are only two thousand kilometers from our projected real space entry point.", reported the Nav station to the Admiral.

"Signal Ivanoff Station." Commanded the admiral. "Order the auto defenses deactivated for our approach."

"Aye sir!", came the response from communications, as the Blast shutters began to retract.

Sean stared dumbstruck for a short time while the prowler drifted silently through the void, as an enormous structure came into view.

An immense, silent silver ring swung into view as they passed out of the shadow of a small moon, a shining colossal oddity in space. As the prowler continued on its course towards the structure, Sean began to make out land forms on its inner surface, vast yellowed areas which looked like deserts, along with red cracks running through some sections, seeming to be lava flows.

"What the hell is that thing?" he wondered, standing stunned along the back wall of the bridge, slowly leaning backwards to support himself on the wall.

"Information attained from Spartan 117 and A.I Cortana designates the ring structure as Halo", came the quiet amused voice from his left.

Concealing the shock that went through his body with great effort, he slowly turned his head to stare at the holotank next to him, keeping his expression as neutral as it had been previously.

Artemis "stood" there, her avatar fixing a smirk on its face, arms crossed as she watched him.

Blinking slowly at her, Sean nodded and said, "Understood", not rising to her unspoken jibe at his lack of knowledge on the subject, returning his gaze out the front view ports. "ONI make this one as well?"

A brief flash of light caused him to glance to where Artemis's avatar had previously been, the holotank suddenly inactive. Shrugging to himself, he turned back to face the windows again, blinking in astonishment as Artemis materialized on the surface of a floor mounted holotank, as a life sized avatar, matching the size of any other human around her.

"Sir, Ivanivof command reports defenses have been deactivated. and gates open. We are cleared for docking", she reported to the Admiral, having seemingly dismissed Sean's question.

"Thank you Artemis." Acknowledged Admiral Greer, before nodding to the Lieutenant at Nav, "Take us in."

"Aye sir", she replied, fingers flying over the control surfaces of her console as she laid in a course, the prowler altering course towards a particularly large asteroid, part of a belt which orbited the Gas Giant and Halo ring. As the gently rolling asteroids begin to fill the view ports, Sean inwardly winced, the feelings of helplessness flooding through him as the massive hunks of rock drifted incredibly close to the ship.

Suddenly the black and grey was replaced by burnished silver and red hues as the prowler swung into the shadow of a particularly large asteroid, which had a clump of buildings attached to it, like some massive space spider, which seemed to be opening its jaws to admit the prowler.

Engines whining quietly, the prowler lurched, before its movement was taken over by the landing cradle, which slowly lowered the ship onto the cold metal decking, the bay doors coming crashing shut behind it, oxygen generators furiously whirring as they restored the depleted atmosphere of the hanger.

"Docking procedure complete sir", reported the Operations officer, as a small army of specialists and service personal swarmed back onto the hanger floor, "We are clear to disembark".

"Very good Lieutenant. All crew are cleared to disembark. Standard procedures. Well done everyone. Artemis, after the shutdown, transfer yourself back to Ivanivof systems. " he remarked, turning to face Sean at his position on the back wall of the bridge.

"Aye sir", came the slightly synthetic reply, before her Avatar glanced at Sean, an amused expression on it's face, winking out of Existence.

"Ready CPO?" Questioned the Admiral, gesturing towards the aft of the ship, leading Sean back towards the crew quarters.

"Yes sir. Always".

"Then grab your gear, and meet me on the deck", Replied the admiral, cutting off their path to walk down the opening entry ramp, returning the saluted of a few ONI personal who had arrived.

Lugging the field pack containing all his Armour, weapons and equipment onto his back, Sean winced, gritting his teeth as the weight sent spears of pain shooting through his leg, half dropping into a crouch, before he slowly forced himself back up, limping heavily, and made his way out of the ship.

"Ready sir!", he barked, straightening as best as he could under 30 Kg load of gear.

"Got enough crap?", came the snide question from one of the operatives who had been conversing with the admiral.

Noticing the insignia which designated the man as another Chief Petty Officer, he scowled, and fired back at the Spook.

"Enough to shred insolent desk jockeys", he growled, eyes without jocularity, mouth twisted in an odd smile.

The black clad man blanched, and took an inadvertent step back, setting an arm over his chest protectively.

"I'm quite sure that won't be necessary", came the iron hard voice of Admiral Greer, as he returned to the conversation, jerking his head at one of the entrances to the base proper. "Lets move", he commanded, walking away, the Spooks and Sean in tow.

"Hains, run full diagnostic suite on the Sahara, all systems. Have her certified for combat readiness within the next 72 hours. McKoy, i want a full analysis of the data collected during the combat simulation testing, as well as the reports given by the officers of the 113th battalion. Smith, give Artemis a full diagnostic as well as a core optimization. Lets get her processors purged of anything superfluous she picked up during the test. "

"What about the Candidate sir?" questioned the Spook called Haines, glancing to Sean as they walked.

"Richerdson, you'll be escorted by Lieutenant Collins to Medical. Until we're sure that the AI interface is one hundred percent stable, you'll be checked out by both Medical and AI experts every two days. After that, Collins, you'll find our new Operative quarters. Richerdson, you're off duty for the next three days. Rest and recovery. With the medical facility's here on the station we can ensure that your leg recovers far more swiftly."

"Sir!", he barked, snapping a salute as he walked, before dropping back at the beckoning of who he guessed was Collins.

"This way" came the curt request, as the operative turned on their heel, and strode off.

Unable to glean anything from the Spook's face, which was covered in in the shadows cast by a cap worn, Sean was left with one thing to fall back on. Making no mistakes given the ONI officer's figure, he simply replied with "Yes Ma'am", and fell into step behind her, the straps of his pack slicing into his shoulders, digging raw lines into his skin.

"Whats it like having one of them stuffed into the back of your head?" she questioned, eyes locked straight ahead, a slight note of scorn in her voice, as if the concept made her sick.

"Necessary for survival of the UNSC." he said flatly, tired beyond measure, not only from the physical hardship, but the mental exhaustion of dealing with the AI interface. Even with his few hours of sleep on board the prowler, he still felt like his brain was running at a quarter of its normal speed.

"Your not an ODST now Petty Officer", she remarked. "I'm giving you permission to speak freely", finally giving him a glance, a pair of bright emerald green eyes flashing at him under the brim of her cap.

Pausing, he considered her statement, mind still active enough to surpass the "Dumb grunt" stigma some of the Spooks seemed to have attached to him. Sensing no untold purpose behind her question, which was surprise enough for a Spook, he cautiously nodded a little, wincing as the movement grated against his pack.

"Its unpleasant Ma'am. Invasive. May i ask why this...experiment, is necessary?. Barring the...Spartans", he said with his own level of disgust "No AI has ever been necessary for an ODST or Marine combat mission before. Why now? And...Why me?", he asked haltingly, the words reaching his mouth in a disconnected stream.

"That was to be expected. Such an implant takes time to adjust to. And as to the purpose of this experiment. So far, you are authorized to know this. A small, composed of members from Two sections of ONI believe that having the Spartan programs as the only combat units able to carry AI assets in ground tactical environments is a mistake. And because deployment of a spartan team is not always appropriate to certain situations which arise, as i'm sure you can appreciate, especially given the current status of the Spartan program's."

"Yes ma'am. I understand ONI's reasoning", he said somewhat more soberly, taking in his predicament.

"A Sub cell of two different ONI divisions? Spartans being deemed unsuitable for specific missions? What the hell have i been dragged into this time?", he thought.

"Your participation in this program was decided by the command board of the Cell. The combat record of your unit speaks for its self. And as the top trooper in the Twenty Second's reconnaissance company, you were the natural choice." finished the Lieutenant, palming a bio metric sensor, a blast of air from the Positive air pressure system in the Med Lab washing over them.

"Inside. The Doctors are waiting for you", she ordered gesturing for him to enter. "It starts now."


	5. Update

Hello once more Ladies and Gentlemen. And whoever else might be reading this.

I know its been months since any updates have come out, and I am sorry for that. University has finally finished up for the year, so I have a whole load of writing to do, and quite a bit that's already done as well!

A Flame in the Darkness, Recon Team Two, From Guardsman to Greatness, and Of Man and Machine all have updates ready(And in some cases, 3 or 4 updates, not just 1).

I also have about 3 new stories planned out, and drafted ready to go, covering things from Red Vs Blue, Warhammer High(Look it up on 1d4chan and enjoy the fluffiness.)and the Eragon/Inheritance cycle.

I'm sure there's more, but you know me, I only tell you half the story.

Now!, the less good bit. The laptop I use to do my writing has developed a "Error during start up", (Or whatever the hell that means), so currently, all that writing is stuck on the hard drive of the currently broken down laptop. And that included not only my fanfiction, but also all my university work. Thank god I've already submitted my assignments though, and that my Uni work is backed up.

So then...Yeah. That's about 1-200,000 words of fanfiction possibly down the drain. Anyway, getting past all the moping, long story short, until I get my computer fixed, or am able to rip the filed off the hard drive, all stories are on Hold.

That wasn't too hard to say now was it?

And in addition to all of that, can I please just say, Thank you so very much to everyone who reads my work. I'm glad you like it, and hope you continue to read and enjoy it in the future.

Please anyone, feel free to send me comments, suggestions, thoughts, likes, dislikes(Although I'll say, don't be an asshat, please. )

So, until I either get really creative and re write the 200,000 words from memory, or get smart and just fix the dammed computer, Thank You, and Goodnight.

~Snake of the West


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